Pepe and Didi's cup final memories
Pepe Reina and Dietmar Hamann shared their FA Cup final memories with LFC TV presenter Claire Rourke in the build-up to this weekend's clash against Chelsea at Wembley.
Both were speaking on their '60 Minutes With' shows which will be aired on LFC TV for the first time from 9pm tomorrow. However, both are available for LFC TV Online subscribers to watch on demand now.
In two separate interviews, the pair explained the highs and lows of their Anfield careers and revealed some mixed emotions about the last time the Reds participated in an FA Cup final.
The 90 minutes of normal time against West Ham at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in 2006 were, by his own admission, uncomfortable for Reina.
Jamie Carragher turned the ball past him to give West Ham the lead on 21 minutes before the Spaniard fumbled a tame Matthew Etherington shot into the path of Dean Ashton, who slipped it under the 'keeper and the ball trickled over the line for 2-0.
"It was a bad performance by myself during the 90 minutes," explained Reina. "I was really nervous and I didn't play well at all. But it's the keeper's rule - once you make a mistake there will be another crucial moment within 10 minutes and you have to be ready."
And help was at hand, in the form of skipper Steven Gerrard.
First the No.8 dispatched a pin-point pass into the path of Djibril Cisse, who rifled home on the half-volley to half the deficit.
Then the captain stormed the Hammers' penalty area and maneuvered his body over a Peter Crouch knock-down to lash the ball past the rooted Shaka Hislop for 2-2.
With a minute of normal time left, Gerrard cancelled out a Paul Konchesky effort and scored arguably the finest goal ever witnessed in a cup final: a pile-driver from 35 yards into the bottom corner of Hislop's net.
"I just said to myself, 'listen, Stevie just gave you back an opportunity to show the people how good you are and how well prepared you are to be in this team, so just make sure you don't miss it again'" said Reina.
"In the 30 minutes of extra-time, I remember I made a really good save in the last minute and then we won by penalties. I was really proud."
Meanwhile Hamann explained how he felt sorry for the opposition, after ninth-placed West Ham more than matched the European Champions, Liverpool, for 120 minutes of play.
"When we won the FA Cup in 2006, it was another memorable day," said Hamann. "But for the first time, really, I felt a bit sorry for the opposition. They didn't panic for a team in their position; they didn't have many players who had played in a cup final before but did everything they needed to do.
"Stevie got us into extra-time with that fantastic strike from 30 yards and then it went to extra-time.
"Once it went to penalties I was confident because we had beaten Milan the year before and we had the momentum again. No disrespect to Jerzy but we probably had a better penalty-saver in goal with Pepe.
"The year before he came to England he saved eight out of 10 or 12 penalties in Spain. So we knew, also from training, what a hard keeper he is to beat from the penalty spot. Obviously, Jerzy had done us proud the year before but we knew we had Pepe in goal who would save one or two."
To watch 60 Minutes With Didi Hamann, click here>>
To watch 60 Minutes With Pepe Reina, click here>>